Isaak Heller OC ‘22

Isaac Heller smiling at camera
 

Independent Fellowship, Philippines (2022-24)

Isaak Cagampang Heller (he/him) ’22 majored in Mathematics and Economics with a minor in Sociology. However, his passion lies in political economy and political sociology. As part of his Honors Economics research, Isaak studied the effects of political organizing on the structure of online social networks, and the ability of the resulting networks to enable collective action. He has also participated in research on the degree of racial polarization in congressional speeches and the effects of Ebola related quarantines on dropout rates in Sierra Leone. Outside of research, Isaak has worked as a tutor, as a Teaching Fellow for Intermediate Macroeconomics, at Walgreens, and for a startup company that is developing an app designed for organizers working towards political mobilization in underrepresented communities. After graduation as a Shansi Independent Fellow, Isaak will work for the Philippine branch of Focus On The Global South, an activist think tank that works on the political economy of development, power and democracy, and grassroots-based challenges to neoliberalism and Authoritarianism.

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Agrarian Reform and Acculturation
Agrarian Reform and Acculturation

By Isaak Heller ‘22, Independent Fellow

Working for Focus On The Global South has been a fascinating process, with opportunities for learning at every turn. The day to day of agrarian reform work has been one very interesting line of work. So far, this has included holding an agrarian reform conference, working on on-the-ground struggles for land redistribution (from Manila), and planning an upcoming regional agrarian reform conference that will be held in Thailand in March (this will be my second time there, the first occurring around a month ago, when I went there for two weeks for Focus’s annual staff meeting, which brought together staff from Focus’s offices in the Philippines, India, Cambodia, and Thailand). Agrarian reform cases are fascinating, in part because they are mini campaigns that include many strategies that are relevant to larger social movements. Unfortunately, I cannot go into the specifics from specific cases.